Heat Miser
Contributor
This is the Second half of an epic dive trip Jul 20 - Aug 13, 2023 taking in the wreck sites of Truk and Bikini. Part 1 was previously published here.
We Island hop on the United flight from Truk, to Pohnpei, to Majuro. The dive has been booked via Perth Scuba and a third party travel specialist (Dive Adventures) and their experience in sorting out all the inter-connecting flights is obvious. They have scheduled a precautionary, two night, stop over in Majuro so that any lost luggage will catch up to us. Whilst we were fortunate and didn’t need the extra days. It’s easy to see that problems do occur, regularly. When we finally get to the Majuro baggage claim, United Airlines have posted a list with 20 bags, that will be coming later (In a couple of days). Also, when we check into our hotel in Majuro, we receive the news that Susan and Karen (a West Australian bailout diver), flying via Hawaii, have had their (Hawaii to Majuro), flight cancelled and their arrival, is likely to be delayed by days. Team leader Josip is on the phone with Dive Adventures and we discover, the next morning, that they have managed to get them on to an earlier flight, arriving a day later than planned, but also on the same flight we take from Majuro to Kwajalein.
The next day, in Majuro, is really about making some makeshift rEvo repairs. There was a tiny leak appearing in the seam of the Delrin lid of Damien’s rEvo, it was found under a positive pressure test in a dunk tank just before the last dive at Truk and Josip and Damien choose a two part epoxy called JB weld marine, from the local hardware store, to cover the seam.
The next day we fly to Kwajalein and then take the ferry to Ebeye to rendezvous with the Master’s Liveaboard, MV Tata. We meet the seven other guests. Two of whom, have had their luggage (and rebreathers) lost. They are facing the possibility of having to, air dive Bikini on back mounted bailout. Fortunately after the checkout dives on the Prinz Eugen, the team from the MV Tata head back to Kwajalein and pick up the missing luggage, whilst we divers finish having dinner on the boat.
The beauty of the Prinz Eugen should not be discounted. First it’s a chance to make certain your unit is working well. In my case my middle cell molex connector wire is shot and I take that cell and plumb it into my right dream, so I can see 3 independent cells on the dreams/hud and two different cells on the controller. We are running, in parachute mode, with the controller having a high set point of 0.9 and a manually maintained set point of 1.1 PP02. The tip, Josip gave me in Truk, of switching the dreams/hud to modified Smithers code pays off, as all I really have to focus on, is seeing the one infrequent red dot, above the green dot on the hud, indicating a 1.1 set point.
We penetrate the Prinz Eugen with Adam Bears (our leader), second Joseph and me bring up the rear. We enter near the stern at 9 meters depth and penetrate to inside the hull to the bow at 21 meters of depth, before turning the dive and returning the way we came, The total runtime of 2 hours with only 1 to 2 minute deco. Ending an epic first day of diving.
That night we set course for a 30 hour steam to Bikini, a touch apprehensive about the voyage and fearing sea sickness. Fortunately the trip is, what James Soos (MV Tata’s, Cruise Director) calls, the best crossing he’s seen this season. During this commute, I have time cut the wires on the faulty cell, and crimp a new molex connector, donated by new friend and fellow rEvo owner, Ivan of Virginia. The MV Tata’s engineer, Domingo takes the stub of the wire cut off from the cell, rubs it in between his fingers and shows me the wire is completed rusted. He says a better design would be aluminium coated wire and hopes that the patch will hold for this trip, but warns once rust sets in it’s usually a matter of time before it goes the full length of the wire.
The next day, with a full three cells restored to my controller, we are ready to dive the Saratoga a mammoth aircraft carrier sunk during Operation Crossroads. We dive in a team of four split into two buddy teams. Josip and Damien run line into the back of the machine shop, whilst Susan and I get to look around the upper levels aircraft elevator shaft. Then after 15 minutes, we meet the other guys coming out at the entrance, we go in, follow the line to the end and reel up. “Silty As” is an apt description.
The next mornings dive is on the Nagato (the aircraft carrier Admiral Yamamoto gave the order from to attack pear harbour from) and we drop down to the control tower lying on it side and the make our way to stern to look at the big guns. Some quick photo shots, in between the guns, prove how amateur, a videographer I am, creating a silt storm that clouds the aspiring models. I argue, I was doing it for effect to get that nice sandy glow from the bottom, but the truth be told videoing with Joseph’s negatively weighted camera is an experience I haven’t had to cope with. I spend the next few minutes apologising profusely in sign language, before we make our way up to the giant props at 35 meters for some more famous photos.
After the next drive or two, Susan also diving a rEvo, has a new unique problem. Whilst we noticed she went through a lot of dil on the Prinz Eugen, check out dive. We all put it down to, us diving with detuned ADV’s versus her using a fully functioning ADV. However, during a team closed check, Susan realises that the Dil SPG is not holding pressure when turned off. It appears that the thin blue hose, inside the lung, connecting the Dil first stage to the ADV second stage is leaking. Susan decides to sit this dive out. An eminently sensible but tough choice, when you have paid all that money to dive some of the most remote wreck sites, in the world.
The remaining three of us decide to penetrate the Saratoga from an entrance, near the port side bow, mooring line and work our way to the midships aircraft elevator shaft. Given my apparent tendency to keep my fins higher, than Damien, he gentlemanly insists I go in second, behind Josip leading. Little did I know that whilst there is a rusty silt on the bottom of these levels, the roof of the hallways are flooded with oil, and my high fin technique sometimes inadvertently touches the roof, covering Damien and his unit (behind me) in splotches on thick black crude, which no doubt took 3-4 showers to get rid of back on board.
That afternoon the team sets about trying to fix Susan’s unit. A borrowed reg from James, and a third steel tank are added to a side fixation for wing inflation. Susan dives the rest of the trip with her deep bailout plumbed into the MAV block for Dil, and she just turns the richer, on board Dil cylinder on for descent, and off after a Dil flush, upon reaching the bottom.
After a few days, for me, the wrecks are all starting to blend into one another. But I do have to remember and thank Adam Beards for some world class photography on the afternoon dive of the second last day in front of the guns on the Nagato. The pinpoint precision of Adam saying move back, crab right, ended up with a photos that makes me look better than reality. The Adam Bears Photography sticker, rightly deserves its pole spot at the highest point above the Bikini beach bar. Have a look if you are ever one of the 260 odd divers, each year, that get to go onto Bikini Island and have a look around.
The final day looms and Susan and I have opted for two shorter, two hour dives, on the Saratoga whilst Damien and Josip have opted for one longer 3 hour dive in order to let their gear dry out earlier. Every litre of water you take home weighs a kilo (2-3 pounds) and at Kwajalein, the United Airlines weight police love to ping you $200 for 2-3 pounds excess.
Neither Susan, nor I, have seen any of the plane wrecks scattered on the sand around the Saratoga, and so, for the second dive we plan to make a Bee line for the most accessible plane wreck, off the starboard side bow guns. James says he’s “not going to say we can’t go but doesn’t necessarily recommend it” because of the poor visability. Adam says “even though he has been diving the Saratoga since April, he is yet to see any planes”. Which shows you, that the life of a Bikini dive leader, is probably more focused the avid client interest in penetration.
We Island hop on the United flight from Truk, to Pohnpei, to Majuro. The dive has been booked via Perth Scuba and a third party travel specialist (Dive Adventures) and their experience in sorting out all the inter-connecting flights is obvious. They have scheduled a precautionary, two night, stop over in Majuro so that any lost luggage will catch up to us. Whilst we were fortunate and didn’t need the extra days. It’s easy to see that problems do occur, regularly. When we finally get to the Majuro baggage claim, United Airlines have posted a list with 20 bags, that will be coming later (In a couple of days). Also, when we check into our hotel in Majuro, we receive the news that Susan and Karen (a West Australian bailout diver), flying via Hawaii, have had their (Hawaii to Majuro), flight cancelled and their arrival, is likely to be delayed by days. Team leader Josip is on the phone with Dive Adventures and we discover, the next morning, that they have managed to get them on to an earlier flight, arriving a day later than planned, but also on the same flight we take from Majuro to Kwajalein.
The next day, in Majuro, is really about making some makeshift rEvo repairs. There was a tiny leak appearing in the seam of the Delrin lid of Damien’s rEvo, it was found under a positive pressure test in a dunk tank just before the last dive at Truk and Josip and Damien choose a two part epoxy called JB weld marine, from the local hardware store, to cover the seam.
The next day we fly to Kwajalein and then take the ferry to Ebeye to rendezvous with the Master’s Liveaboard, MV Tata. We meet the seven other guests. Two of whom, have had their luggage (and rebreathers) lost. They are facing the possibility of having to, air dive Bikini on back mounted bailout. Fortunately after the checkout dives on the Prinz Eugen, the team from the MV Tata head back to Kwajalein and pick up the missing luggage, whilst we divers finish having dinner on the boat.
The beauty of the Prinz Eugen should not be discounted. First it’s a chance to make certain your unit is working well. In my case my middle cell molex connector wire is shot and I take that cell and plumb it into my right dream, so I can see 3 independent cells on the dreams/hud and two different cells on the controller. We are running, in parachute mode, with the controller having a high set point of 0.9 and a manually maintained set point of 1.1 PP02. The tip, Josip gave me in Truk, of switching the dreams/hud to modified Smithers code pays off, as all I really have to focus on, is seeing the one infrequent red dot, above the green dot on the hud, indicating a 1.1 set point.
We penetrate the Prinz Eugen with Adam Bears (our leader), second Joseph and me bring up the rear. We enter near the stern at 9 meters depth and penetrate to inside the hull to the bow at 21 meters of depth, before turning the dive and returning the way we came, The total runtime of 2 hours with only 1 to 2 minute deco. Ending an epic first day of diving.
That night we set course for a 30 hour steam to Bikini, a touch apprehensive about the voyage and fearing sea sickness. Fortunately the trip is, what James Soos (MV Tata’s, Cruise Director) calls, the best crossing he’s seen this season. During this commute, I have time cut the wires on the faulty cell, and crimp a new molex connector, donated by new friend and fellow rEvo owner, Ivan of Virginia. The MV Tata’s engineer, Domingo takes the stub of the wire cut off from the cell, rubs it in between his fingers and shows me the wire is completed rusted. He says a better design would be aluminium coated wire and hopes that the patch will hold for this trip, but warns once rust sets in it’s usually a matter of time before it goes the full length of the wire.
The next day, with a full three cells restored to my controller, we are ready to dive the Saratoga a mammoth aircraft carrier sunk during Operation Crossroads. We dive in a team of four split into two buddy teams. Josip and Damien run line into the back of the machine shop, whilst Susan and I get to look around the upper levels aircraft elevator shaft. Then after 15 minutes, we meet the other guys coming out at the entrance, we go in, follow the line to the end and reel up. “Silty As” is an apt description.
The next mornings dive is on the Nagato (the aircraft carrier Admiral Yamamoto gave the order from to attack pear harbour from) and we drop down to the control tower lying on it side and the make our way to stern to look at the big guns. Some quick photo shots, in between the guns, prove how amateur, a videographer I am, creating a silt storm that clouds the aspiring models. I argue, I was doing it for effect to get that nice sandy glow from the bottom, but the truth be told videoing with Joseph’s negatively weighted camera is an experience I haven’t had to cope with. I spend the next few minutes apologising profusely in sign language, before we make our way up to the giant props at 35 meters for some more famous photos.
After the next drive or two, Susan also diving a rEvo, has a new unique problem. Whilst we noticed she went through a lot of dil on the Prinz Eugen, check out dive. We all put it down to, us diving with detuned ADV’s versus her using a fully functioning ADV. However, during a team closed check, Susan realises that the Dil SPG is not holding pressure when turned off. It appears that the thin blue hose, inside the lung, connecting the Dil first stage to the ADV second stage is leaking. Susan decides to sit this dive out. An eminently sensible but tough choice, when you have paid all that money to dive some of the most remote wreck sites, in the world.
The remaining three of us decide to penetrate the Saratoga from an entrance, near the port side bow, mooring line and work our way to the midships aircraft elevator shaft. Given my apparent tendency to keep my fins higher, than Damien, he gentlemanly insists I go in second, behind Josip leading. Little did I know that whilst there is a rusty silt on the bottom of these levels, the roof of the hallways are flooded with oil, and my high fin technique sometimes inadvertently touches the roof, covering Damien and his unit (behind me) in splotches on thick black crude, which no doubt took 3-4 showers to get rid of back on board.
That afternoon the team sets about trying to fix Susan’s unit. A borrowed reg from James, and a third steel tank are added to a side fixation for wing inflation. Susan dives the rest of the trip with her deep bailout plumbed into the MAV block for Dil, and she just turns the richer, on board Dil cylinder on for descent, and off after a Dil flush, upon reaching the bottom.
After a few days, for me, the wrecks are all starting to blend into one another. But I do have to remember and thank Adam Beards for some world class photography on the afternoon dive of the second last day in front of the guns on the Nagato. The pinpoint precision of Adam saying move back, crab right, ended up with a photos that makes me look better than reality. The Adam Bears Photography sticker, rightly deserves its pole spot at the highest point above the Bikini beach bar. Have a look if you are ever one of the 260 odd divers, each year, that get to go onto Bikini Island and have a look around.
The final day looms and Susan and I have opted for two shorter, two hour dives, on the Saratoga whilst Damien and Josip have opted for one longer 3 hour dive in order to let their gear dry out earlier. Every litre of water you take home weighs a kilo (2-3 pounds) and at Kwajalein, the United Airlines weight police love to ping you $200 for 2-3 pounds excess.
Neither Susan, nor I, have seen any of the plane wrecks scattered on the sand around the Saratoga, and so, for the second dive we plan to make a Bee line for the most accessible plane wreck, off the starboard side bow guns. James says he’s “not going to say we can’t go but doesn’t necessarily recommend it” because of the poor visability. Adam says “even though he has been diving the Saratoga since April, he is yet to see any planes”. Which shows you, that the life of a Bikini dive leader, is probably more focused the avid client interest in penetration.
